Defending champions Bopanna, Jeevan ousted, Yuki-Sharan in

Pune, Jan 4 (PTI) Defending champions Rohan Bopanna and
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan were tonight ousted from the Tata Open
Maharashtra but Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan combined to
shock the top seeds, keeping the Indian hopes alive.

Bopanna and left-handed Jeevan, up against a very solid
singles players in Gilles Simon and two-time Grand Slam
champion Pierre-Hugues Herbert lost 3-6, 5-7 in one hour and
10 minutes.

However, Yuki and Sharan kept the home fans interested by
knocking out the top seeded pair of Robert Lindstedt and
Franko Skugor 7-5, 2-6, 10-6 in their quarterfinals.

Bopanna said their opponents returned too good, making
their life tough.

"Gilles Simon showed why he is such a good player. They
returned extremely well. We hung in but Simon's big serves on
decue points made the difference," the tall Coorgi said.

Jeevan, who lost his serve twice, said they tried
different things like I formation, moving right-left and then
getting back to regular things but nothing worked.

"Simons played singles and he won earlier in the day
well. So he was watching the ball nicely. When he is in his
zone, he is too good and he made us pay," said the left-hander
from Chennai.

Both of them lost lot of points but Bopanna said he does
not see it that way since he is not defending any points next
week.

However, it will impact Jeevan a lot since he mostly
plies his trade on the Challenger circuit where even winning
the tournaments won't give him the points he lost at an ATP
event here.

Sharan, who had a very successful 2017, said Yuki brought
his singles game and he played with his doubles strength which
worked for them.

"It's not first time that we are playing together. Scott
Lipsky was not ready so my first option was to play with him.
We had made the finals in the Tashkent as well," Sharan said,
adding that changing so many partners in the last few months
did not impact his game much since he was focussed on his
strengths.

Asked if he would like to play more doubles, Yuki said,
"only at big events,"

"There are more points on offer in big events. I got
lucky that Divij did not have a partner for this event. Divij
had insight about the opponents, he was guiding me, we stuck
to a plan and it worked."

They next take on Herbert, winner of US Open in 2015 and
Wimbledon in 2016 and Simon.

"I am confident now that I can win against any player,"
Sharan said exuding confidence ahead of tomorrow's match